Real-time Water Quality Monitoring
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Water Quality
Real-time Water Quality Monitoring - Cleaning & Calibration
The sensors that are used to measure the water quality parameters listed previously require cleaning and calibrating on a regular basis to ensure that the equipment functions properly and collects high-quality data. Thus, the Hydrolabs are cleaned and calibrated in the field, or in the laboratory, weekly.
Sensors are thoroughly cleaned to remove any debris or sediment that has collected using the procedures recommended by the manufacturer. After the sensors have been cleaned, the unit is calibrated.
Calibrating the hydrolab unit
Calibration corrects drift in the Hydrolabs by adjusting them to conform to known standards. We calibrate the Hydrolabs based on the parameters being measured: dissolved oxygen (DO), in percent Saturated and mg/L, electrical conductivity (EC) and pH. The DO is calibrated with distilled water. EC is calibrated to both 2500 uS/cm and 5000 uS/cm. Buffers used to calibrate pH are 7 and 10. Probes are rinsed three times with distilled water and then three times with the appropriate standard. The calibration cup is then filled with the standard and calibrated using a Surveyor 4a (a device that communicates with the Hydrolab and that can record and store data). The standards used cover the general range of the parameters found in the tributaries and the Wash. The calibration information is then logged on a datasheet.